As many as six GOP senators aren’t currently comfortable supporting Hegseth following allegations about drinking and his treatment of women, sources told NBC News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WASHINGTON \u2014 President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s pick to lead the Defense Department, Pete Hegseth, is in peril as Senate Republicans grow increasingly concerned over alleg<\/a>ations of\u2002<\/a>drinking<\/a> and reports about his treatment of women<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As many as six Senate Republicans, perhaps more, are currently not comfortable supporting Hegseth’s bid to lead the Pentagon as new revelations about his past continue to be made public, three Republican sources with direct knowledge of his nomination process said. Given Republicans’ slim Senate majority in the next Congress, Hegseth, a former Fox News host, can afford to lose only three GOP votes, assuming all Democrats vote against him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who is on the Armed Services Committee, would not commit to support Hegseth’s nomination and said she planned to grill him about news accounts of allegations of alcohol abuse, mistreatment of woman and financial mismanagement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re just going to have a really frank and thorough conversation,\u201d Ernst said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran, was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in California in 2017, according to a police report<\/a> made public after Trump announced he would nominate him for defense secretary. Hegseth, who was not charged, denied the woman’s allegations, saying the encounter was consensual, although he did pay an undisclosed amount<\/a> as part of a settlement with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Separately, NBC News reported Tuesday<\/a> that Hegseth’s drinking concerned his colleagues at Fox News, according to 10 current and former Fox employees. Two of them said Hegseth smelled of alcohol before he went on air on more than a dozen occasions. Hegseth did not respond when he was asked for comment on those allegations Tuesday evening at the Capitol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The initial allegations last month did not appear to put Hegseth\u2019s planned nomination in danger. After his first round of meetings on Capitol Hill last month, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the chair of the Armed Services Committee, said he expected Hegseth to be confirmed. On Tuesday, after a series of other reports about Hegseth\u2019s past but before NBC News reported on allegations concerning drinking at Fox News, Wicker sounded more cautious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think there are questions that some members have, and we\u2019re going to be looking for an answer,\u201d Wicker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The New Yorker<\/a> published a story Sunday about a previously undisclosed 2015 whistleblower\u2019s report from a veterans\u2019 organization Hegseth ran, which claimed he was repeatedly intoxicated on the job. NBC News has not seen the report, which was shared with the nonprofit group\u2019s leadership, and Hegseth’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment on the article Monday. In a statement the lawyer provided to The New Yorker, an unidentified Hegseth adviser called the claims \u201coutlandish\u201d and said they came from a \u201cpetty and jealous disgruntled former associate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he is still open to supporting Hegseth and believes he deserves a fair vetting, but he said Tuesday that Hegseth must explain media reports about his past conduct in a way that would make senators comfortable voting to confirm him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe got a process where he can be asked questions. The articles I\u2019ve read, yeah, some of them are concerning,\u201d Graham said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it’s true or not, but he\u2019ll go through the process. He\u2019ll be asked about it. We\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hegseth was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday meeting with multiple senators. The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another Trump pick to fill out his Cabinet dropped out of contention last month<\/a> amid opposition from Senate Republicans. Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., had been Trump’s choice for attorney general, but at least five Senate Republicans were prepared to vote against him, five people with direct knowledge told NBC News at the time, because of allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor (which Gaetz has denied and was not charged with).<\/p>\n\n\n\n